Negotiation: An emergent process of living systems

Abstract

Negotiation is a process of communication between and among individuals, groups, organizations, communities, societiess, and supranational systems with the purpose of reaching agreement about certain joint or reciprocal acts. Existing models of the negotiation process, based on game theory, communication theory, economic theory, exchange theory, power theory, and political theory, tend to focus on individual decision-makers and their outcomes. This article presents a model of negotiation as an emergent process of living systems. From a living systems perspective, negotiation is a joint decision-making process that results in a new or modified template for an agreed system of interaction. Various kinds of agreed systems, both living and nonliving, are analyzed. Negotiation is shown to be part of the reproducer process whereby groups, organizations, communities, societies, and supranational systems are born.